According to information released by the media, by the sixteenth of the current month of January, the Italian Government will be called to offer its clarifications to the Union on the subject of beach concessions. Brussels, in particular, would have stigmatized the failure to comply with the European Bolkestein directive, in the part in which it would impose public tenders for the release of maritime state property concessions in consideration of the circumstance for which the so-called "milleproroghe decree", approved last February by the current Meloni government, in providing for the postponement of a further year for the calling of tenders, would represent, mutatis mutandis, a sort of automatic renewal of existing concessions to the same holders, and therefore would collide with the European legislation just mentioned.
Probably the complaint, in the terms in which it was raised, was foreseeable and not otherwise avoidable. Especially on a procedural level. And especially due to the binding nature of the aforementioned directive. Therefore, the need to avoid the effects of an infringement procedure is of primary importance. On a different juncture, perhaps in some way connected, it seems impossible to help but point out that the polls, even those of a European nature, are increasingly closer, and on the part of the various political groups of national importance, both majority and of the opposition, also called upon to confront the People of Voters also at a regional level, the need arises to define and affirm its own identity and ideological peculiarity, both in the territorial context and also on the supranational level "strictu sensu" considered.
The need appears extremely understandable if we only consider the effects that the victory of one or the other political group could reverberate on the future organization of the Union and its political direction. There seems to be a need to strengthen, in various ways, and by virtue of the political alignment of reference, the affirmation and weight of the country of Italy in an attempt to give it an imprinting on the decision-making level useful for influencing the union reformism of recent times characterized by various stringent regulations whose concrete implementation could have a significant impact on the economic stability of the country itself. Lastly, what caused concern within the current Government majority was precisely the European Bolkestein directive on beach concessions, dating back to 2006, but in fact implemented in Italy only during the the year 2010. In the meantime, and to be clear, because this directive, among other things, would seem to provide, as in fact it does, that, when there is a shortage of natural resources, not only the potential release of the renewed concessions must take place through the announcement of a tender, but as long as the concessions themselves have a limited duration in time, without any possibility of obtaining automatic renewal and with the possibility of derogation only for particular and compelling reasons of public interest. Therefore, why, even if everything is considered, the pursuit of the direct and indirect effects imposed by the application of such a stringent directive would seem to impose, as a preventive activity, the preliminary census of the state-owned areas involved also with a view to considering the major and /or smaller quantity of free areas available. Finally, because this directive, in the substantial part that characterizes it, has as its primary objective that of facilitating the so-called free movement of services effectively summarized by the European Court of Justice no later than the past year, through the affirmation of the principle according to which , excluding automatic renewal, the concessions themselves must be subject to specific and identified selection procedures in the name of transparency and impartiality.
To date, nevertheless, there appear to be quite a few doubts both about the definition of the national rules useful for defining the selection procedures and about the possibility of obtaining further extensions at least until December of the current year. Moreover, the need to avoid any further delay seems to have been recently stigmatized by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, who, in fact, had the opportunity to express the urgency of finalizing the regulation for the renewal of beach concessions also given the requests in this sense coming from the relevant European institutions.
The problem appears to be among those of immediate practical relevance, and certainly, considering the very limited time allowed by Brussels for its definition, it should be addressed with the promptest practical concern. It would be important to proceed in the direction of filling a regulatory void which would seem to risk reverberating against the country's interest in a historical moment, such as the current one, in which compliance with European dictates appears fundamental for the near and future future of the country. The aim to be pursued and ensured should be to allow all operators in the sector, including current dealers, to be able to undertake and/or continue to carry out their activities on a level of compliance with the relevant legislation, both of a supranational nature , both of a national nature, precisely in order to avoid in any way the initiation of any and all litigation. Compliance with Union law should become the useful rule to characterize Italian government activity if it really wants to impact European institutional dynamics and have a pre-eminent role.
Giuseppina Di Salvatore
(Lawyer – Nuoro)
